Zion's Angels Landing Permit Program Updates Rules, Closes April 20-23

The summer seasonal lottery for Angels Landing is open right now and closes April 20, giving hikers targeting any June, July, or August date fewer than three weeks to apply on Recreation.gov. That April 20 deadline lands on the same day a scheduled maintenance closure shuts the trail through April 23, making the overlap an easy detail to miss for anyone planning a late-April or early-summer trip.

The maintenance closure is confirmed: no permits will be issued for Angels Landing on April 20, 21, 22, or 23, 2026. A fall 2026 maintenance closure is also scheduled, though specific dates have not yet been posted.

The full 2026 seasonal lottery calendar breaks down by quarter. Spring permits covering March 1 through May 31 ran through a lottery window that opened February 13 and closed February 25. Summer permits for June 1 through August 31 require applications between April 1 and April 20. Fall permits covering September 1 through November 30 open for lottery applications July 1 through July 20. Winter permits for December 1 through February 28 follow a lottery window from October 1 through October 20.

The seasonal lottery lets applicants rank up to seven date and time preferences, costs $6 to enter (non-refundable), and adds a $3 per-person fee for each permit if selected. For anyone who misses a seasonal window or needs flexibility, the day-before lottery accepts applications from 12:01 a.m. through 3 p.m. Mountain Time the day before the intended hike, though availability is not guaranteed.

Every hiker proceeding beyond Scout Lookout onto the half-mile chain-assisted section must carry a permit and be prepared to show it to rangers at any time. The permit requirement applies regardless of the time of day or season. Zion National Park issues more than 200,000 Angels Landing permits each year, yet competition for specific spring and summer dates can be steep, and the day-before lottery frequently runs dry on weekends.

If the lottery does not go your way, the trail itself offers a strong fallback. No permit is required to hike the Angels Landing trail as far as Scout Lookout, the broad sandstone shelf that delivers sweeping views of Zion Canyon before the chains begin. From there, the visual payoff is genuine even without continuing to the summit. For a permit-free experience with comparable elevation drama, the Observation Point Trail is an eight-mile round trip classified as strenuous and puts hikers on a rim that actually looks down on Angels Landing, no lottery required. The Canyon Overlook Trail, just off the park's east entrance road, covers roughly a mile round trip and skips the shuttle system entirely, offering a quick canyon panorama that works as a half-day anchor when permit plans collapse.

The NPS launched the Angels Landing pilot in April 2022 after years of crowding on a trail where the chain section narrows to under three feet wide above sheer drop-offs. The quarterly lottery structure is the program's most significant logistical feature: missing a seasonal window means waiting three months for the next one, so building application deadlines into trip-planning calendars early is the single move that separates a confirmed summit from a Scout Lookout consolation hike.